Dear Broadsword,

[Darth-asgard]

58 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said:

You have no idea how many times me and @TrixxieTriss  (and a couple of others) have said this!!

A +10 to you as well.

Hmmm ... come to think of it ... Seems like there was a pretty good suggestion on a couple of new classes (one for the Republic and the other for the counter part in the Empire).

It's something that would bring in money for sure, as long as it's done properly and there is a decent amount of story content .... and perfect example being with 'Legacy of the sith', it's already showing how a story can be made extremely well with just a skeleton team, I mean even the cinematics have improved with the animations, the camera angles.. it really feels like it's back at it's roots once more..  though I do hope this story is expanded on going forward and with more people on the project with the inclusion of 'Broadsword'.. it's certainly possible. 


I for one play SWTOR mainly as a solo experience so for me personally, they give us more story and I'll pay for it. I do dabble with OPS too but my main focus is story. 

As for classes, I've ALWAYS said, going back to SW: Galaxies, make a dancer/Musician class so we can get buffs for our characters by being in a group with the person performing and they get paid with tips from players for performing and doing weeklies for their class with specific missions like 'Dance or play an instrument for 100 people' .. also giving the class a reputation bar where people can rate them. 

Also, a trader specific class, again going back to SW:Galaxies. A trader class would have the benefits of being able to have 6-9 crew skills, and be able to send out 10-12 companions for crew missions rather than the 8 we have now. Also they'd have their own weekly missions for experience. 

For combat combat classes, I'd like to see a:

-Battledroid class for both rep and emp, we could be an upgraded version of the HK series. 
-Beast master class which is like the hunter class from LOTRO, where you can train a beast and have it run through the game with you. With this class your beast wouldnt be classed as a companion, so you'd have the ability to be in a 3 person group, You, your beast and your companion (Only with the beast master class). 

New Faction being 'Mandalorians'. A whole new expansion origins class story for the faction. It would be the perfect time to add a new faction to SWTOR especially with whats going on in LOTS.  

[Char_Ell]

2 hours ago, Amodin said:

Interesting - can you please provide the link that shows the transition has taken place?  I haven't been able to find anything that already shows the transition over, on either EA, Bioware, SWTOR or Broadsword's websites to indicate.  There was nothing in the forums from the developers other than the announcement, and we haven't moved to the AWS platform.

Keith Kanneg posted the official announcement of the transition on June 27.  Broadsword just haven't made it a priority to get their websites updated other than Broadsword now shows under the devs' forum names that made the transition.  On the same day SWTOR's Lead Writer announced on her Twitter account that she was now employed by Broadsword.  Seems logical to assume that all the other SWTOR devs making the transition switched their employment to Broadsword at the same time.  My guess is the SWTOR game client will get updated to show Broadsword with the 7.3.1 update which I anticipate will go live sometime in September.

EDIT: The server transition to AWS is not associated with the developer transition to Broadsword.  It was never a matter of the servers would transition to AWS when the dev team transitioned to Broadsword.  In his post on June 20 Keith Kanneg advised the timeline for the transition to AWS was being reassessed as a result of the transition to Broadsword but they were still moving forward with the AWS server transition project.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Char_Ell

[TrixxieTriss]

10 hours ago, omeru said:

Do you remember even once Keith apologized from community?

It’s not just specific to one person in the team like Kieth. It’s an ingrained part of their old corporate DNA to never apologise.

Do you ever remember anyone at BW ever admitting to making a mistake & apologising to their customers. They don’t ever do that. They double down on bad decisions & if they make changes, they make it sound like it’s their idea & they’re doing us a favour. It’s never their fault even after they ask for player feed back & still go with bad design decisions. 

Unless Broadswords management directly breaks them of that culture, I doubt we’ll see any real change on that front. 

[TrixxieTriss]

6 hours ago, Char_Ell said:

Keith Kanneg posted the official announcement of the transition on June 27.  Broadsword just haven't made it a priority to get their websites updated other than Broadsword now shows under the devs' forum names that made the transition.  On the same day SWTOR's Lead Writer announced on her Twitter account that she was now employed by Broadsword.  Seems logical to assume that all the other SWTOR devs making the transition switched their employment to Broadsword at the same time.  My guess is the SWTOR game client will get updated to show Broadsword with the 7.3.1 update which I anticipate will go live sometime in September.

EDIT: The server transition to AWS is not associated with the developer transition to Broadsword.  It was never a matter of the servers would transition to AWS when the dev team transitioned to Broadsword.  In his post on June 20 Keith Kanneg advised the timeline for the transition to AWS was being reassessed as a result of the transition to Broadsword but they were still moving forward with the AWS server transition project.

@Amodin Swtor’s listing on Steam now also states that Broadsword is the Developer, it’s no longer listed as BioWare. 

[Addictress]

Seriously

[Samcuu]

23 hours ago, Darth-asgard said:

As for classes, I've ALWAYS said, going back to SW: Galaxies, make a dancer/Musician class so we can get buffs for our characters by being in a group with the person performing and they get paid with tips from players for performing and doing weeklies for their class with specific missions like 'Dance or play an instrument for 100 people' .. also giving the class a reputation bar where people can rate them. 

This was a very cool feature of swg, it kinda gave the rpers a role to assist the pvp'ers and pve'ers who needed buffs. However it's functionality was terrible. Continually have to take that time out of ur day to get buffed to do pvp was annoying, especially as the buffs didn't persist through death. Might work if the buffs at least lasted like 24 hours. I just don't feel like this would work with today's instant gratification type player. 

23 hours ago, Darth-asgard said:

Beast master class which is like the hunter class from LOTRO, where you can train a beast and have it run through the game with you. With this class your beast wouldnt be classed as a companion, so you'd have the ability to be in a 3 person group, You, your beast and your companion (Only with the beast master class). 

There are a lot of things the hero engine just can't handle. I imagine in a wz for example, if there were several beast masters in a match it would generate ridiculous lag. It already happens from multiple sorcs just casting their normal abilities. 

Love the ideas but swtor has always been limited by their initial decision on what engine to use. And now I don't think they have the resources to do all this cool stuff. I've mentioned before several times how the Mandalorians should be a 3rd faction with all new class stories. However it's a pipe dream. Probably small story updates and qol improvements is about the most we can expect from here on out. 

[Shayddow]

I wish the Bounty Hunter and the Smuggler would have been a 3rd faction from the get-go. 

So not separating all the techs - Rep troopers should obviously stay pub origin, as Imp Agents should stay imp origin.

There should have been 2 other classes for pub/imp : Imperial soldiers and SIS agents. (they would have similar stories to their counterpart in the other faction).

Then for the 3rd faction Mandolorians and Smugglers. Both would have more interaction with the Hutts.

And instead of one-size to fit all with KOTFE and KOTET, there would be a differences among the classes above.

[TrixxieTriss]

1 hour ago, Shayddow said:

I wish the Bounty Hunter and the Smuggler would have been a 3rd faction from the get-go. 

So not separating all the techs - Rep troopers should obviously stay pub origin, as Imp Agents should stay imp origin.

There should have been 2 other classes for pub/imp : Imperial soldiers and SIS agents. (they would have similar stories to their counterpart in the other faction).

Then for the 3rd faction Mandolorians and Smugglers. Both would have more interaction with the Hutts.

And instead of one-size to fit all with KOTFE and KOTET, there would be a differences among the classes above.

The third faction could have been classified as an underworld faction or even just a non-aligned faction & just have 3 class stories per faction when the game launched.

But being non-aligned instead of only just an underworld faction, would have allowed for non-aligned force users like night sisters or others, like grey Jedi as the 3rd class story for that faction. 

Then as the game matured over the years, they could have added 3 new classes stories to the game during expansions, one per faction. Like Sith Empire Troopers & Republic SiS agents & Underworld Mandalorians 

Edited August 7, 2023 by TrixxieTriss

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

On 8/4/2023 at 9:25 AM, OlBuzzard said:

... on this point we disagree.

Fair enough. 👍

Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

On 8/4/2023 at 9:25 AM, OlBuzzard said:

we're about to find out what (or who) is behind door #3 (so-to-speak).  This game will either take a notable change for the better ... (in content ... availability of activities ... etc)

It's not looking good. My hopes for a change by Broadsword are starting to evaporate. Broadsword really should have said something at this point.

I know it hasn't been long yet, and maybe I'm being a bit hasty, but if they have officially taken over, even if it's just been a week, they should have said something. Anything. It wouldn't even need to be a lot, or give a definitive statement on the direction of the game, or cited examples, just something.

An opening statement, or introduction, or a welcome to post, that's something that should have already been prepared before they officially took over, knowing it was coming from the business side of things.

The logo also should have been changed on the website.

 

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

On 8/4/2023 at 8:51 AM, omeru said:

Some interns showed they have potential, joke aside a team is good as their management is and sadly this game doomed with who BW put in charge. Put this management in charge of FF14 and in a few years game loses 90% of players. Do you remember even once Keith apologized from community? 7.0 release deserved a huge apology but he remained silent which means he thinks they did good job. So i dont blame devs sadly they have no chance to success with this management. 

It's a fair point.

They can only work with what they're given and no one of them is in charge of everything.

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

On 8/4/2023 at 8:51 AM, Darcmoon said:

I guess the main thing I’m getting at is people keep wanting a statement or something from BS but are they actually in charge yet?   If not, they may not want or be able to say anything. 

If I'm mistaken, and they are not in charge yet, than yeah, I totally agree, doing those things would be premature.

[TrixxieTriss]

9 hours ago, WayOfTheWarriorx said:

It's not looking good. My hopes for a change by Broadsword are starting to evaporate

What has me worried by the lack of communication from the dev team is that it’s degrading player confidence. Which is reflected in player numbers still continuing to decline. Especially since the new PvP season has started.
It’s shows there is more discontent within the player base than we thought over Broadswords take over, no changes to 5-8 man premade debacle and no tweaks to the overly harsh tax system that isn’t allowing free gifting. 

Edited August 7, 2023 by TrixxieTriss

[felleto]

The more they take to say anything the worst it looks. Imo of course. 

[Spikanor]

i hope that there not going to make the same mistake's again with the next expension update like there have done with the 7.0 one since that was so weak and lame and also brutal there have done that it was really no worth to become sub for it anymore for something like that.

[Ardrossan]

I would not expect a broadsword post until september. bioware seems to take summers off and the same seems to be true for broadsword. 

[DWho]

One thing to remember is that EA is still the publisher so everything has to be approved by them (and probably Disney as well) for anything to be said. The game will have to survive on whatever EA decides to give Broadsword to run the game. Think of Broadsword as a sub-contractor with no other clients (they only run EA "MMOs")

[felleto]

I'm off to playing Turtle Wow until the next galactic season. Hopefully it will come soon.

[Char_Ell]

On 8/4/2023 at 5:03 PM, TrixxieTriss said:

Swtor’s listing on Steam now also states that Broadsword is the Developer, it’s no longer listed as BioWare. 

EA.com has also been updated to shows SWTOR's developer as Broadsword.

[felleto]

2 minutes ago, Char_Ell said:

EA.com has also been updated to shows SWTOR's developer as Broadsword.

Guess that's something...

[Char_Ell]

12 hours ago, TrixxieTriss said:

What has me worried by the lack of communication from the dev team is that it’s degrading player confidence. Which is reflected in player numbers still continuing to decline. Especially since the new PvP season has started.
It’s shows there is more discontent within the player base than we thought over Broadswords take over, no changes to 5-8 man premade debacle and no tweaks to the overly harsh tax system that isn’t allowing free gifting. 

What is the specific lack of communication that you refer to? 

The issue I have is that swtor.com, forums.swtor.com and broadsword.com have not been updated to reflect Broadsword taking over development of SWTOR more than 30 days after the transition occurred.  That makes me feel like Broadsword doesn't think it's all that important to get their websites, their public facing presence, updated.  If that is the case then it's hard for me to believe SWTOR joining the Broadsword portfolio of games is a big deal for them. 

Other than the yet-to-be updated websites, Keith Kanneg has already communicated what SWTOR players should expect for the rest of this year: 7.3.1 with Galactic Seasons 5 in late summer, which I interpret to be sometime in September, and 7.4 with SWTOR's next story update for the year-end holidays.  I have no expectations for further communication from the devs until shortly before these updates go live.  It remains to be seen if the downsized dev team is able to deliver on these goals but we have yet to reach the expected timeframe for delivering the first post-transition update, never mind the second update, and I'm of the opinion that the transitioned dev team should be given the chance to show they can deliver under the Broadsword banner.  I hope they do deliver but I'm not confident enough to bet on them.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Char_Ell
spelling and grammar corrections

[wwefarming]

Il y a 1 heure, Char_Ell a dit :

What is the specific lack of communication that you refer to? 

The issue I have is that swtor.com, forums.swtor.com and broadsword.com have not been updated to reflect Broadsword taking over development of SWTOR more than 30 days after the transition occurred.  That makes me feel like Broadsword doesn't think it's all that important to get their websites, their public facing presence, updated.  If that is the case then it's hard for me to believe SWTOR joining the Broadsword portfolio of games is a big deal for them. 

Other than the yet-to-be updated websites, Keith Kanneg has already communicated what SWTOR players should expect for the rest of this year: 7.3.1 with Galactic Seasons 5 in late summer, which I interpret to be sometime in September, and 7.4 with SWTOR's next story update for the year-end holidays.  I have no expectations for further communication from the devs until shortly before these updates go live.  It remains to be seen if the downsized dev team is able to deliver on these goals but we have yet to reach the expected timeframe for delivering the first post-transition update, never mind the second update, and I'm of the opinion that the transitioned dev team should be given the chance to show they can deliver under the Broadsword banner.  I hope they do deliver but I'm not confident enough to bet on them.

If you take a look, Bioware's website hasn't been updated either as it still shows the game under their current portfolio and the Austin studio is still not considered to be shut down (the announcement clearly implied it would close after the transition), so while I'm not a professional regarding studios transitions, right now it's likely there's some behind the scene corporate stuff we're not aware of and they all will update their websites at a certain date (maybe when 7.3.1 release as it would be the first update under Broadsword banner?)

[ronin_chi_lao]

9 minutes ago, wwefarming said:

(maybe when 7.3.1 release as it would be the first update under Broadsword banner?)

A little later then that as Keith said they had plans up to 7.4 (I think this was story content) before broadsword was official.

[Kazuone]

Broadsword: our studio, our rules.
When you go to Broadsword Online Games (mythicentertainment.com) clearly, website is not their priority.

Swtor website is old, but making the job.

I don't think we'll see a new website until a very long time. And honestly, there's so much to do before updating website...

Broadsword is taking the same way than bioware with lack of communication but mabye there's some contractual terms that stop them for now, mabye Broadsword wants swtor team to finish what they planned till 7.4 and will begin to work on the game only for 8.0. 

 

There's so much possibilites...and as players, we only can wait and hope for now.

[TrixxieTriss]

6 hours ago, Char_Ell said:

What is the specific lack of communication that you refer to? 

Just lack of communication in general. Surely they can see player numbers are dropping significantly. Now would be a good time to try and reassure the player base with more communication, not less.

6 hours ago, Char_Ell said:

Other than the yet-to-be updated websites, Keith Kanneg has already communicated what SWTOR players should expect for the rest of this year: 7.3.1 with Galactic Seasons 5 in late summer, which I interpret to be sometime in September

If we are looking at actual calendar seasons, then September is in fall, not Summer.  August is the last Summer month in the calendar year. So I would expect 7.3.1 to be released this month if it’s supposed to be late summer. 
 

 

[eabevella]

On 8/4/2023 at 10:02 PM, sharpenedstick said:

Go play Baldur's Gate 3. It's amazing what a competent studio can do.

I'm 30+hr in my first official play through after the formal release.

The story, the characters, the details and love put into the game... and *gasp* a dev team that actually plays their game and listens to the players' feedback? Compared to a dev team that released lackluster "contents" with "changes" that were strongly opposed by "PTS" players, that don't know the difference between pvp/pve, and banned players from asking for a HM raid that was supposed to be a thing? that forgot this game has 8 unique classes with unique stories instead of 1 bland "Commander" with 1 bland, homogeneous plot that doesn't go anywhere with laughable "choices"?

And now not even a word when the game is switching/has switched handler? I find that not caring too much is the best approach.

Tbh I won't even keep my subscription (that ran out in July) for SWTOR if I'm not the heal of our raid group. But I'm guilty in this aspect to give Bioware/Broadsword reason not to give a damn about SWTOR because they still get my money even though I only opened the game twice or trice a week for a raid session.

The only saving grace is that SWTOR has fully voice acted player characters but even that was being cut cornered by the devs.